AGO exhibits two new installations from the Afrocentric spiritually moving work of Belize-based Canadian and Maroon artist Winsom!

Winsom is a multi-media installation artist whose instinctive works explore themes of freedom, survivance, resilience, renewal, and African spirituality within the context of the Black Atlantic experience. The Masks We Wear gestures to African traditions of mask-wearing as part of healing rituals and to practices of masking within the context of trauma and the everyday presentation of self. In this installation, the artist contemplates on practices of unmasking/ healing and connections with the ‘natural’ world that enable a more holistic engagement with both human and non-human forms.

Jumping the Boa is an interactive installation that pays homage to those who came before us. It focuses on death as a form of transformation. In African spiritual practices, the ancestors or the departed, are believed to continue to exist unencumbered by the strictures of material reality in an invisible or metaphysical world. They are keepers of knowledge, customs, and symbols, and provide the living with access to the divine. Animals are often participants in rituals that honour those who have entered the spirit world.

The exhibition is organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and is curated by Andrea Fatona. Andrea Fatona is an independent curator, scholar, and writer. She is currently Associate Professor, Faculty of Art, Graduate Studies at OCADU.